Outcast

Quinn Runningbrook knows a hundred ways to kill a man and make it hurt. He can track, ambush, and torture his prey with terrifying skill—just like his father taught him. But every kill consumes another piece of him, and in this tense coming of age story, Quinn longs to stop, to save himself and his sister, Willow, from becoming like his father—a man who kills for entertainment.

But when Quinn refuses to torture a group of trespassers caught too close to the Tree Village where his family lives and instead kills them quickly, he disobeys a direct order from his father . . . and Willow is forced to take his place. Suddenly, Quinn isn't the favored apprentice to the family business of "protecting" the Tree Village anymore. Willow is.

When Jared Adams—a courier from the nearby city-state of Baalboden—is caught traveling too close to their borders, Willow is ordered to kill him. But Quinn knows that Jared doesn't deserve torture or death. And he realizes he has to take action in a high-stakes adventure . . . or the fate chosen for Willow and himself by their father will remain carved in stone.

Epic Reads Impulse is a digital imprint with new releases each month.

• An Unbreakable Sibling Bond: Quinn was raised to be a killer, but he’ll risk everything—even his father’s wrath—to protect his sister, Willow, from becoming the monster he fears he already is.
• A Morally Grey Hero: Trained in torture and assassination, Quinn is a lethal weapon. But when he defies an order to spare an innocent man, he must confront the darkness inside him and choose his own path.
• Survival in the Wasteland: Set in a brutal world of isolated tree villages and dangerous city-states, this gripping prequel novella pits two siblings against their own family in a desperate fight for freedom.
• The Start of a Found Family: Forced to flee the only home they’ve ever known, Quinn and Willow must put their trust in Jared Adams, the very stranger Quinn was supposed to kill.